Why would you like to write for journals? What is your purpose behind your doing so? Do you plan to write for a research assessment? Do you wish to develop your profile in a particular area? Would you decide which journal to write for using this information? If you are not sure, then this is how you should write an article for a research journal.
Have a Strategy
Have you seen how other researchers write for a journal? Which conversation or group do you see yourself joining? Some people prefer to keep their articles ready for publication and then look for a place to publish them. However, some people prefer to write later according to the policies of the journal in which they would like to publish their articles. You would need to first work out why you wish to publish your article in a journal and then, write the article. This will help you stay motivated enough to write a journal article.
Analyze Different Writings
Take a few journals in your field of study and then, analyze them. Make sure you scan through all the writings and look very closely at them. Highlight all the sentences that are important to you. Can you see that the writings in the journal are related to one particular genre of writing? Can you define the different types of writing structures simply by looking at them?
Do an Outline
Do you always simply dive in to start writing or do you write a good outline for all your articles before you can begin writing one? Outlining and writing a plan for your research article are highly useful. They will help you define what you need to write and to develop your ideas. Use lots of action verbs in your research article before going ahead to write it fully.
Target the journal in which you want to get your paper published. Then, prepare a blue print as per the guidelines, be clear about your interest area and topic and then, proceed to write an article.
But if I write the journal before knowing where to publish it, wouldn’t it be a task to edit it as per the guidelines?
My timings might not match with the schedule I have planned to complete my dissertation. then would it do justice to my outline?